Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray's residence Matoshree in Bandra, Mumbai. Earlier Amit Shah met senior BJP leaders at a luxury hotel in Mumbai and drove to Matoshree, the Shiv Sena chief's residence in suburban Bandra
The developments came after weeks of adamant public posturing on both sides, though second channel talks were secretly conducted between senior leaders of the two parties, culminating in the reported alliance
Ending weeks of speculation, the ruling NDA constituents - Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - finally sealed an alliance for the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections on February 18, 2019
BJP President Amit Shah and Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, along with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi and other senior leaders from both sides made the announcement at a joint media briefing late on Monday evening
Devendra Fadnavis said, "We have been together for over 25 years because of our shared ideologies and spirit of nationalism. In 2014 elections, owing to certain reasons we had split, but later since the past nearly five years we are in alliance in Maharashtra and at the Centre."
Devendra Fadnavis added, "Now, the partnership will continue for the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly and others elections on a wide-ranging basis."
Devendra Fadnavis had on February 14 returned to Mumbai halfway through his Vidarbha tour to meet Uddhav Thackeray
Earlier while the BJP had indicated that it would like to form an alliance with it for the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena sent out mixed signals. However, that ended on February 18, 2019
The Shiv Sena is the biggest and oldest saffron ally of BJP - without break for nearly three decades, barring a brief snap-off before the 2014 Assembly election. A couple of months after the BJP formed the government headed by Devendra Fadnavis, the Shiv Sena, which sat with the opposition, walked over to the ruling side
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the two parties along with their allies had won 42 out of the 48 seats. The BJP had bagged 23 seats, while the Shiv Sena had emerged victorious in 18 constituencies
During the entire tenure, the Shiv Sena remained the sharpest critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on various issues ranging from demonetisation to the state of the economy
In the press conference, Uddhav Thackeray said, "People are seeing the Shiv Sena and the BJP for the past 30 years. For 25 years, we stood united, and for 5 years, there was confusion. But like CM Devendra Fadnavis said, I still provided guidance to the government from time to time." Uddhav Thackeray said the seats for the same have been divided equally and so will be the responsibilities
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